In Lucrecia Martel's masterfully hypnotic Zama, the sensuous and seductive Luciana Pinares de Lueñga (Lola Dueñas, "Can't Say Goodbye") says that "Europe is best remembered by those who were never there." If Zama is any indication, we might also conclude that South America might be better remembered if the Spanish conquistadors were never there. Based on the novel of the same name by Antonio di Benedetto (recently translated into English) and set on the coast of Paraguay in the late 1700s, Martel's first feature in nine years explores the tragic legacy of European colonialism in South America through the gradual descent into madness of Don Diego de Zama (Daniel Giménez Cacho, "The Promise"), a bureaucratic functionary of imperial Spain existing on the periphery of power.Perhaps reflecting the arrogance and entitlement that Martel has suggested characterizes Argentina's middle class, the prideful Don Diego is stuck in an isolated settlement in Asunción while waiting for a transfer to Lerma, the capital of Argentina's Salta region where he hopes to reunite with his wife and child. Zama feels that he is performing an important function for the Crown and that his services should be rewarded with a transfer, though his birth in the Americas and not Spain is against him. It is a transfer that seems, however, to be beyond his grasp. The film opens as Zama dressed in full colonial regalia and three-cornered hat stands on a beach looking out at the Paraguay River like an actor rehearsing to play George Washington.The air is filled with sounds of ruffled grass, the flow of water, and the buzzing of insects, only interrupted by an occasional electronic tone that signals Zama's growing stress. As a group of naked Indian women covered in mud talk to each other along the shore, Zama hides in the grass to observe them, but is discovered and chased away by one of the women who calls him a mirón, roughly translated as "voyeur." Though he responds violently, Martel says that it is easy to identify with Zama because he is an "imperfect, weak, almost bad character" and because she feels that "there is much more humanity there than in heroes."Colonialism hovers in the background in every scene. White men and women wearing ostentatious wigs looking like time travelers from the court of Marie Antoinette are catered to by black servants, discharging their duties without emotion. In one scene, as Luciana is playing cruel games fending off Zama's desires, she is being fanned by a mute black servant. Trapped in a gloomy settlement close to the jungle and its warlike tribes, Zama's position becomes steadily more untenable and a feeling of failure is evident in his demeanor. He is even rejected by the indigenous woman with whom he has had a child and is reprimanded by a superior after an altercation with a junior officer (Juan Minujín, "Focus"). It is even more painful for him when he finds out that the officer in question has been sent to Lerma as punishment.Realizing that he may never get his transfer, Zama joins a posse looking to find and kill the mysterious Vicuña Porto (Matheus Nachtergaele, "Filhos da Pátria" TV series) who has become the go-to scapegoat for the colonizers, but his increasingly hallucinatory adventure leads only to Zama's further despair. Martel asserts that the film tries "to disturb our perception as viewers." Like her earlier films, "La Cienaga," "The Holy Girl," and "The Headless Woman," Zama challenges us to look past its ambiguity and lack of a coherent narrative to discover its slowly unfolding treasures. While Zama is a film about failure, its mixture of pride, pathos, and the absurd suggests they have much in common.

Based on the novel by Antonio di Benedetto: in the 18th century, Don Diego De Zama (Daniel Giminez Cacho) is an administrative official assigned by Spain to oversee a South American colony (later part of Argentina). His attempts to change his status, position and work location (mainly to reunite with his wife and newborn child) are met with great resistance."Zama" is courageous in exploring issues of both race and class within colonialism. The main character and those like him falsely believe they are superior to the people indigenous to the land. But this principle comes back to haunt de Zama as well. He is of Spanish heritage but was born in "the colonies" and is thus considered inferior to those who are Spanish-born. He is stuck in the middle of a deplorable hierarchy and mindset.Despite the film's assets, the narrative falls into something that is jumbled, incoherent, and sometimes incomprehensible. It is also too long. This is unfortunate considering its potential.In the later scenes, the shortcomings are appeased with beautiful natural surroundings complemented with a blue sky. This does create a pleasant serenity but at this point, the enjoyment is only a consolation rather than an enhancement.

With Zama we are in front of a masterpiece that many will pass by and miss because of its slow rhythm, but to transmit the feeling of going-slowly-mad that Don Diego, (main character) is painfully getting, this rhythm is much needed. If you're able to slow down from today's full speed, always anxious way of life, you will notice what makes this movie stand tall.With an impressive photography and non traditional takes, alongside the sounds of deep Paraguayan inland and the colonial way of living in a strange land, this piece needs to be seen in cinema to get submerged into the context and then fully understand and feel the state of mind of Zama, which is basically the main substance of the plot; his waiting for an impossible and what comes with it: silent despair and slow madness.Regarding costumes, acting and editing, I've found also greatness within simplicity.Remember this while starting to watch Lucrecia Martel's masterpiece: this is a movie for the senses and the subconscious mind, not for reasoning.

In spite of what critics might say, this movie does require the audience to actually take some time but not to "rejoice in a well told but a bit slow story" (sic)... You might perhaps dwell on what took you to watch this pretentious movie in the first place. But yes, you are going to remain in your seat for something close to 2 hours (if you don't leave, as some people did) to finally get... nothing. Basically, if you read the storyline here, you've already had it all for nothing else happens, truly. Nothing. There is no back story for any character. Some of them pop up and disappear just the same. With no explanation whatsover. Then, the campaign to catch the "thieve"... it happens out of the blue. I asumed something occurred in between his decision to do so but the director chose (for some unknown reason) not to make that part of the story into the final cut. However, she did decide to include something else. It seems she found a lot of beautiful places to film her movie and in almost everyone she said "gee, let's film a bit here, no, no actors, just the landscape and then I will include it in the final cut", well, that is exactly what she did. Perhaps, if you are at home and you get to press fast forward from time to time... it might (huge emphasis there) improve the experience but I most sincerely doubt it.All in all, it's a complete waste of time (and money) and *this* is what we sent from Argentina to the Oscars. Some reporter asked Lucrecia Martel why she has chosen to be absent from the cinemas for 9 years. Well, some of us haven't noticed her absence at all and would be very much welcome her to remain the way she was.